Loveliness to sell
Okay, I'm all happy and beautified at the moment.
Anyone who's been in a school band, chorus, or orchestra can attest that there is always at least one song in a musician's early performing history that just has that "it" factor.
It's the song in your stupid heavy folder that you're always hoping to get to today. One of the few that's actually worth listening to all the ridiculous repetitions required to get it right. That one that grabs you early in the rehearsal process and promises a huge payoff when you're performing it on the stage.
I've had maybe ten of those in my long "career" (hah) of being a chorus performer--from ninth grade high school chorus to my second year of college. Okay, so that's only six years. It seems like longer. I performed with so many mixed choruses, women's choruses, small groups, duets, and All-State groups that it seems like I have much more experience than I really do, I guess.
I've performed hundreds of songs over those years. So only having ten that grabbed me is pretty significant. It sure means a lot of muck to slog through without finding any diamonds.
One of the shining ones was presented to me during one of my All-State chorus experiences. It was a piece called "Life Has Loveliness To Sell." I believe the one I did was arranged by James Mulholland.
Copyrights and whatever else notwithstanding, I decided that offering you a sample to hear this lovely thing would be okay, considering not that many people are out to grab and exploit stuff like choral music.
Link to an mp3 of this song
It's not really the song itself that I love so much as the WORDS. As it was playing today I was thinking about how much I adore the poem. And you know what? I never knew it, but it turns out IT WAS WRITTEN BY SARA TEASDALE. Who is also the author of my favorite poem, "Stars." Isn't that a weird coincidence? I guess I need to look her up and buy a book of her poems or something.
I'm going to reprint the lyrics here and comment on my favorite lines. If you aren't interested in beauty, don't bother reading. Hehehee.
Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings.
[That stanza is mostly just okay, but it gets you in the mood . . . setting the stage for the gorgeousness inherent in life. Really, just think for a second and imagine those blue waves. A nice image.]
And children's faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup.
[Probably my favorite couplet in the poem. What can project the appreciation of beauty more than a child's face? I love the phrase "like a cup." Little kids who just drink everything in and are amazed and awed by everything. We should be amazed and awed too. It's an amazing and awesome world out there.]
Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold.
[Yes, mentioning one after the other the great things in life--a song that's as shiny and beautiful as a curve of gold, that wonderful scent of nature during a storm (what a great image!), and then suddenly making it personal and attaching it to a person loving you and just holding you. Love!!!!! Yay!!!!!]
And for your spirit's still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.
[Though I don't normally enjoy the way people use the word "holy," here I just think of purity and sacredness, and how one thought really can light up darkness in your own soul and the souls of others. And the one thought is often something so simple.]
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost.
[What's really important? Reaching for that beauty, those moments you think back on and wish to hold again, and sometimes you realize they are yours and you really can have them whenever you want as long as you truly purchased them in the first place.]
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.
[!!!!!!!!!!]
The way Mulholland's arrangement frames these lyrics is beyond beautiful.
And singing it is one of my "one white singing hour[s] of peace," one of my "breath[s] of ecstasy."
Anyone who's interested: I'm selling loveliness. This time it's just a song and some wonderful words. Who's buying?
Anyone who's been in a school band, chorus, or orchestra can attest that there is always at least one song in a musician's early performing history that just has that "it" factor.
It's the song in your stupid heavy folder that you're always hoping to get to today. One of the few that's actually worth listening to all the ridiculous repetitions required to get it right. That one that grabs you early in the rehearsal process and promises a huge payoff when you're performing it on the stage.
I've had maybe ten of those in my long "career" (hah) of being a chorus performer--from ninth grade high school chorus to my second year of college. Okay, so that's only six years. It seems like longer. I performed with so many mixed choruses, women's choruses, small groups, duets, and All-State groups that it seems like I have much more experience than I really do, I guess.
I've performed hundreds of songs over those years. So only having ten that grabbed me is pretty significant. It sure means a lot of muck to slog through without finding any diamonds.
One of the shining ones was presented to me during one of my All-State chorus experiences. It was a piece called "Life Has Loveliness To Sell." I believe the one I did was arranged by James Mulholland.
Copyrights and whatever else notwithstanding, I decided that offering you a sample to hear this lovely thing would be okay, considering not that many people are out to grab and exploit stuff like choral music.
Link to an mp3 of this song
It's not really the song itself that I love so much as the WORDS. As it was playing today I was thinking about how much I adore the poem. And you know what? I never knew it, but it turns out IT WAS WRITTEN BY SARA TEASDALE. Who is also the author of my favorite poem, "Stars." Isn't that a weird coincidence? I guess I need to look her up and buy a book of her poems or something.
I'm going to reprint the lyrics here and comment on my favorite lines. If you aren't interested in beauty, don't bother reading. Hehehee.
Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings.
[That stanza is mostly just okay, but it gets you in the mood . . . setting the stage for the gorgeousness inherent in life. Really, just think for a second and imagine those blue waves. A nice image.]
And children's faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup.
[Probably my favorite couplet in the poem. What can project the appreciation of beauty more than a child's face? I love the phrase "like a cup." Little kids who just drink everything in and are amazed and awed by everything. We should be amazed and awed too. It's an amazing and awesome world out there.]
Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold.
[Yes, mentioning one after the other the great things in life--a song that's as shiny and beautiful as a curve of gold, that wonderful scent of nature during a storm (what a great image!), and then suddenly making it personal and attaching it to a person loving you and just holding you. Love!!!!! Yay!!!!!]
And for your spirit's still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.
[Though I don't normally enjoy the way people use the word "holy," here I just think of purity and sacredness, and how one thought really can light up darkness in your own soul and the souls of others. And the one thought is often something so simple.]
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost.
[What's really important? Reaching for that beauty, those moments you think back on and wish to hold again, and sometimes you realize they are yours and you really can have them whenever you want as long as you truly purchased them in the first place.]
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.
[!!!!!!!!!!]
The way Mulholland's arrangement frames these lyrics is beyond beautiful.
And singing it is one of my "one white singing hour[s] of peace," one of my "breath[s] of ecstasy."
Anyone who's interested: I'm selling loveliness. This time it's just a song and some wonderful words. Who's buying?